Location: Orange, Florida, United States

Surname/tag: Talton, Warren, Dunnaway, Reisner, Harpole, Starr, Moore,
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Hate in Orange County, Florida, USA
Hate began in Orange County after the War Between the States when the Ku Klux Klan developed. Lynchings and cross burning in movies emulate racial hate crimes but those are only a small number amount of the damage done to racial and ethnic minorities in the name of hate. Beatings, floggings, drownings, arson, and bombings make up many more or the egregious hate crimes.
Spaces
- Apopka Ku Klux Klan
- Orlando Ku Klux Klan
- Winter Garden Ku Klux Klan
1940s-1950s
Klan members in the early 1950s included a county commissioner (John Talton), the clerk of the court (Charles Limpus), a justice of the peace (Pete Tucker, Winter Garden), Apopka's police chief(s) (William Dunnaway, Fred Reisner), Winter Park's city manager (Earl Y. Harpole), and then-Sheriff Dave Starr, according to sworn statements given to the FBI. Others included Mose Bryant former Ocoee councilman and marshal, constable Harvey Reisner, and deputy sheriff P. C. Coleman. Obviously getting justice was difficult. Even then Governor Fuller Warren was a member.[1][2]
Melvin Womack, West Orange County Negro, died of bullet wounds March 31, 1951, after allegedly being abducted by four white men March 28.
Womack was found in an orange grove off the Black Lake Rd. and died of five buckshot wounds. No arrests have been made in the slaying.[3]
Klan members in the early 1950s included a county commissioner, the clerk of the court, a justice of the peace, Apopka's police chief(s) (Fred Reisner), Winter Park's city manager, and then-Sheriff Dave Starr, according to sworn statements given to the FBI.[4] Getting justice was difficult. Even Governor Fuller Warren was a member.
Grand Jury Hearings
The National Association of Colored People (NAACP) became involved. A grand jury convened in October of 1952 and June of 1953. Six Orange County Klan members including Harry Reisner were indicted for perjury in another case during the hearings but but the charges were thrown out when a judge ruled the FBI lacked jurisdiction to investigate what amounted to state crimes. '[5]
It took the killing of the Civil Rights leaders, the Moores, to spur the FBI to investigate and unhood 300 KKK members.
Sources
- ↑ Newspapers Clip: 235501637
- ↑ Newspapers Clip: 235493799
- ↑ Newspapers Clip: 222453466
- ↑ Newspapers Clip: 235501637
- ↑ Newspapers Clip: 235501637
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